NationStates Jolt Archive

In reply to reviews of defence forces from near-by Strathdonia and Roycelandian East Africa, work has been engaged towards compiling similar data on the military in Al Jumhuriyah Al Khals Dimuqratiyah.

The oil-rich Republic of four million enjoys the benefits of a rapidly growing economy already greater than a hundred and thirty billion dollars, and sinks well over four billion dollars into its armed forces each year. The total may be especially high over the next couple of years as Al Khals rebuilds its military after significant losses in the Lusakan war, and takes the opportunity to significantly re-structure and modernise the large force.

Al Khals perceives a direct threat on its northern frontier in the form of black-ruled and socialistic Lusaka, which has none of Al Khals’ industrial or buying power, but ten times its manpower. To the south, Mozambique does not appear such an immediate threat, but is certainly considered unstable and again enjoys a potential manpower advantage over Al Khals. The Republic views its small territorial extent as a major handicap against such larger potential adversaries, traditionally fearing that an attack from either side –or worse yet some sort of native coalition (which probably exists only in the minds of paranoid tacticians and scare-mongering politicians)- would leave the Al Khalis no room to move or time to resist. As such, it is hoped to significantly improve the nation’s first-strike and deep interdiction mobile warfare abilities over coming years.

It is sometimes considered surprising that Al Khals has a small ship-building industry to call its own, and this is owing to the need to police off-shore oil concerns.

Conscription is maintained in order to maximise the nation’s extremely limited manpower resources, as Al Khals is three times smaller in population than its slightest neighbour.

Branches- Office of Defence- Republican Army, Republican Guard, Air Force, Republican Air Guard, Coast Guard, Khals Security Unit (KSU; secret police), Police, paramilitaries and reserve militias

Military eligibility age- 17 years

Personnel- RA, RG, AF, RAG, CG active duty personnel amount to ~2% of population.
KSU agents are pervasive and secretive, and accurate estimates of their numerical strength are impossible to make.
Paramilitary units too are fairly secretive in strength and organisation. It is likely that the government influences all, though whether any or all receive state funding is less clear. Their strength is certainly at least 0.1% that of the civilian population. There almost certainly are training camps set-up, though the government denies this- from time to time government raids shut-down what are often said to be terrorists training camps. In truth they may be staged raids on Paramilitary training camps which are then simply relocated.
Reserve militias may over-lap with many paramilitary organisations. Often they resemble the Republican Army of the previous generation in terms of arms and equipment, and units are sometimes lead by semi-retired RA officers.
Police recruitment runs at around 0.15% of the population.

Air Force-

The Air Force suffered significant losses during the Lusakan war, primarily to SAMs more advanced than Via’di’arl had given the enemy credit for. Today there is a very gradual move towards slight downsizing of the impressively large force as older aircraft are slowly replaced in stages.
Ground-attack strength was most seriously hit during the war, and all of Al Khals’ older model MiG-23 attackers and customised F-4 Phantoms were either lost or damaged in the war, or withdrawn directly afterwards as squadrons fell hopelessly under strength. It is hoped that the introduction of new Aermacchi MB-339C aircraft from Italy and the replenishment of Russian air-to-ground missiles –especially anti-radar weapons- will improve the effectiveness of the AF’s strike ability in future conflicts.

Strength- 24,000 (16,000 conscripts)

Combat Jets –

72x MiG-21EW/K Al Khali Eagle Warrior – 23mm cannon, 68mm unguided rockets, free-fall bombs, AA-8 Aphid (R-60), AA-7 Apex (R-24), AA-6 Acrid (R-40RD/TD)
Before the current process of re-arming began in earnest, Al Khals looked to the stop-gap measure of upgrades to existing aircraft, and looked to the Aztec National League for Fishbed enhancement programmes. The EW/K resulted, with extra weapons pylons, and a modified air intake to facilitate a radar upgrade. Numbers have none the less been reduced, even since the war.

60x MiG-23MLD Flogger K – 23mm cannon, bombs, 68mm unguided rockets, AA-8 Aphid (R-60), AA-11 Archer (R-73), AA-7 Apex (R-24), AA-10 (R-27RE)
Also slated for significant cuts, these finest examples of the MiG-23 series have been kept on strength for longer as the MiG-25 proved less impressive than hoped and both are to be more gradually withdrawn over some years.

48x MiG-25 Foxbat – AA-8 Aphid (R-60), AA-7 Apex (R-24), AA-6 Acrid (R-40RD/TD)

36x MiG-29 Fulcrum C – 30mm cannon, bombs, TB-100-4 100mm rockets, AS-12 Kegler (Kh-27), AS-14 Kedge (Kh-29L), AA-8 Aphid (R-60), AA-11 Archer (R-73), AA-10 Alamo-C (R-27)

24x Aermacchi MB-339C - Six under-wing hardpoints for 30mm cannon, tactical support and anti-runway bombs, TB-100-4 French 100mm unguided rockets, 68mm rocket pods, AS-7 Kerry Kh-23, Matre Mk2 anti-ship missile, Matra BAe R.550 Magic SRAAM

Transport-

The transport fleet is also undergoing reduction, and plans exist to replace some of the cuts with new aircraft of specialist types, including AEW and possibly tankers.

23x An-26 Curl

29x An-32 Cline

4x IL-76 Candid

AEW et cetera-

3x EMB-145 SA (surveillance aircraft)

Reconnaissance-

24x MiG-25-R Foxbat
Beginning to look dated against improving air defences, these aircraft are slated for replacement, though no successors are yet evident.

Helicopters-

The AF was traditionally proud of its helicopter force for its strength and its advanced and various capabilities. Recent years have seen equipment date and suffer attrition, and it is likely that new heavy lift and gunship helicopters will be sought, possibly in slightly reduced numbers.

82x Mi-8T HIP AK-C medium assault/transport – R.550 Magic SRAAM, TB-100-4 100mm rockets, 68mm rocket pods, bombs, AT-2C ATGM

8x Mi-8SMV HIP J airborne jamming platform

8x Mi-9 HIP G airborne command post

Training-

Trainers will of course continue to change as new generations of aircraft come into service. Though some models are lacking in quantity, it is unlikely that older types will be increased in number as their combat versions are gradually withdrawn.

17x MiG-21-U
6xMiG-23-U
4xMiG-25-U
4xMiG-29-U
8x IA-63 Pampa: cannon, unguided rockets, and free-fall bombs
42x Yak-18
9x Mi-2 helicopter

Republican Air Guard-

Surface to air missiles-

Again, Al Khals was proud of and secure in its missile defence force, and again it has been shown to be a lumbering dinosaur out of time. The future may see a reduction in the grid’s extent in payment for improvements in its flexibility and performance in modern combat environments.

132x HQ-2A/B Guideline launchers, around 1,800 missiles, 11 battalions mainly projecting major cities, airports, oilfields, military bases, ports, laid-out in rings with 12 launchers.

34x SA-3 launchers, twin or quadruple rails- 102 launch-ready missiles

Towed/Static Anti-Aircraft-Artillery-

This force was expected to under-go almost total dismantling until Lusakan AAA claimed several low-flying Al Khali attack planes, forced down to low level by effective high-altitude SAM coverage, actually restoring the Republic’s faith in this low-tech approach to air defence.

420x 30mm
225x 57mm
140x 76.2mm
80x 100mm
Plus many assorted 12.7mm mountings et cetera

[Other services to come]

very very nice, a heck of a lot more cohesive than the "stick in some old british aircraft that featured in a recent magazine" approach favoured by Strathdonia.

(Oh, I'm sure that has its merits :)

I'll probably put up the Coast Guard, next. The ground forces need too much re-tooling after abandoning the idea of cramming two billion people into a few thousand square kilometres. Need to figure out what's staying at sea and what's going in the lake, though *goes to check on Strathdonia's defences*)

Coast Guard-

Despite the fact that Al Khals’ maritime strength has been proven significantly beyond that of its two neighbours on the Indian Ocean coast, UAR Lusaka and Mozambique, the nation continues to refer to its water-going forces as Coast Guard rather than Navy.
A small native shipbuilding industry has produced a class of light patrol frigates that have actually won export orders, with two being slightly modified and sold to Dra-pol (North Korea) where they serve as the Kurosian Class. A third ship, sold to the Lusakan Navy, was sunk by larger Al Khali forces during the recent war. Despite this, the Coast Guard continues to face serious problems as it barely maintains personnel enough to provide one crew for each vessel and the most minimal of support staff ashore, and it is not clear for how long the force could maintain intensive deployments in a protracted crisis. The Lusakan war lasted just weeks and saw only a small number of missions undertaken by the Coast Guard, which faced little opposition at sea. Further, the CG has no active submarine force, though it is thought to be actively seeking D/E submersibles for coastal and oil-field defence.
Headquarters are at Lindi, other bases include Mtwara, Kilwa Kivinje and In’Salah with small facilities on Lake Nyasa at Tkrat and near the southern border.
Strength is around 8,200 (over 400 officers, over 2,600 conscripts) including initial recruitment towards planned submarine force which will still add several hundred further men to the total.

Vessels-

4x Omar Class light patrol frigates
24x Dimuqratiyah Class missile patrol vessels
28x Khali Class inshore patrol launches (Khals Guard and Lake Guard wing of Coast Guard)
8x Goat Class minehunters
12x Nomad Class coastal utility vessels (potential secondary use in short-range transport of amphibious force)
2x Training ship- converted yachts.

Shore based defences-

6xC-201 anti-ship-missile mobile launchers, several dozen 122mm guns and 122mm and other rockets.

ASW helicopters-

(Also shore-based)
7x Mi-14A

Ship data-

Omar Class light patrol frigate-
1,400 ton full load displacement, 300x34x10ft dimension
2 shafts; 2 cruise diesels, 3,800bhp, 18 knots; boost gas turbines, 42,000shp, 39 knots
Native air-search radar, sonar, and fire control
1x122mm gun, 4x SS-N-22 Sunburn anti ship missile, 1x ASW mortar, SA-N-8 SAM, 4x30mm cannon, 3x12.7mm machinegun
128 officers and men

Note:The Al Khals military is thought to possess only a few Sunburn anti-ship missiles and may struggle to replace any fired. It is not clear if those few launched during the Lusakan War have been replaced in the inventory.

Dimurqratiyah Class missile patrol vessel-
225 ton full load displacement, 142x22x7ft dimension
3 diesels, 3 shafts, 10,500bhp, 33 knots
1x76.2mm gun, C-201 anti-ship missile, 1x30mm AA cannon, 1x12.7mm machinegun
29 officers and men

Khali Class inshore patrol launch-
Small vessels capable of navigating many of the nation’s rivers and larger canals at moderate speeds. Armed with dual mount 12.7mm machineguns and a 30mm cannon, they also frequently carry tube-launched unguided rockets and shoulder-launched SA-7 or SA-14 SAMs. May be seen operating at sea close to shore, but are unsuitable for rough seas or ocean going operation.

[tag]

Fariq (Lt.General- the President being Supreme General) Asim Abdelal, the Al Khali Defence Minister, is leading the Al Khali re-armament drives now getting under way, and is looking to United Elias primarily and to South American nations and others like Egypt secondarily (I assume that as much of the land as is independent exists simply as Egypt) for modern systems.

The Democratic Republic is hoping to almost entirely over-haul its archaic and battered military, which has seen almost no additions or replacements for years and is suffering after losses in the brief Lusakan war.

Most of Al Khals's existing defence equipment was bought from nations now involved in the Holy League, and attempts to aquire new munitions and spare parts for such things as the air forces most modern machines -MiG 29 Fulcrum C fighters and Aermacchi MB-339C attackers- now meet with widespread popular unrest.

Now, as the Al Khali defence forces launched raids against radical strongholds, Abdelal looked to Baghdad and elsewhere for several billion dollars worth of hardware to equip an army of forty thousand and an airforce over half that size, and flew out to the Middle East on a commercial flight (he would need to look into getting presidential and other such jets!).

The Hrstrovokian Federal Socialist Republic is prepared to assist Defense Minister Abdelal with Al Khali's rearmament campaign by sending a group of 300 veteran military advisors, providing essential spare parts for MiG-29 squadrons and equipping Front-Line Aviation units with new Su-63 'Zero' Air Superiority Fighters.

We can give you this and more, and all we ask is that you siphon off some precious Oil-fields for Hrstrovokian use.

(Sorry, I started this thread back before my region was clearly part of AMW (as you can see in that our MiG-21s still carry a reference to the ANL until I resort the air force), so didn't include anything specific in the title until now, but this is now indeed AMW-specific, so unless you're still playing Vietnam or whatever, we can't accept, I'm afraid! If I had time, I'd play outside AMW as well, but sadly that is not the case.)

[OOC: Ah, no worries! I used to be Vietnam, but I was crap at it. If I can give you some help with the formation of your military based along real-world aircraft, vessels and vehicles, dont hesitate to ask!]